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Insurer Drops Individual Coverage In The Northwest

The following email was received this week by the employees of a large insurer located in the Northwest. Specific details were removed to protect individual identities.

Subject: Changes in Individual Underwriting due to ACA implementation

We have known for some time that beginning in 2014, new rules will end medical underwriting and pre-existing conditions exclusions for the Individual line of business. Medical underwriting is still needed in other areas. This applies only to the Individual line of business.

We appreciate the patience of current Individual Underwriting staff as we have worked to identify any new needs posed by ACA regulations.

Today, we notified Individual Underwriting staff that their positions will end on Dec. 31, 2013. At the same time, we were pleased to announce that, in response to market needs, we have created 22 new positions in Individual Underwriting for eligibility verification and three to five new positions in a new Member Services group called Medical Risk Management (MRM). The MRM group will support the Affordable Care Act (ACA) risk adjustment process and help coordinate referrals to care management programs.

New position descriptions have been created to meet the unique needs of each group and all affected underwriting staff have been encouraged to apply.

As is common practice, those employees who leave as a result of the discontinuation of Individual Medical Underwriting will receive severance packages and professional assistance with career transition training.

Please extend your support to our Individual Underwriting colleagues during this time of change. We truly appreciate the dedication and contributions of all of our employees in the service of our members and our Cause.

Note that they don't state the number of jobs lost while being pleased at the new jobs created (sound familiar?) - word is that 40 folks are being turfed in the Individual Plan department.

More evidence that if you like your current health plan, Obama lied - you can't keep it.

Making patently false claims while attempting to sell healthcare insurance is a felony in the state of Iowa. Obama and his collaborators in the House and Senate all used the same five patently false claims while campaigning for this issue. I'd love to see some indictments.

FreedomWorks today echoed calls from Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Nebr.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for answers from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the prioritization of payments to health insurance companies over taxpayers through the controversial ObamaCare reinsurance program.

Following an editorial by President Barack Obama in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in which he called for a so-called “public option” component for ObamaCare, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:

Following an appearance by former speechwriters for President Barack Obama on The Charlie Rose Show Monday, in which they laughed when the now-infamous “if you like your plan, you can keep it” promise was mentioned, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:

UnitedHealth Group made good on its threat to pull out of ObamaCare markets. The nation's largest health insurance company will pull out of the Arkansas and Georgia ObamaCare markets in 2017. The insurer has not publicly stated why it is leaving the exchanges, but past statements offer some insight into the decision. In short, unbalanced risk pools -- those with older and sicker consumers and a high utilization of coverage -- have led to losses.

FreedomWorks today marked the sixth anniversary of ObamaCare being signed into law. Repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with patient-centered reforms remains a top legislative priority of FreedomWorks and our community of grassroots conservative activists.